At the outset and till the age of one and twenty the spermatic
discharge is devoid of fecundity; afterwards it becomes fertile, but
young men and women produce undersized and imperfect progeny, as is
the case also with the common run of animals. Young women conceive
readily, but, having conceived, their labour in childbed is apt to
be difficult.
The frame fails of reaching its full development and ages
quickly in men of intemperate lusts and in women who become mothers of
many children; for it appears to be the case that growth ceases when
the woman has given birth to three children. Women of a lascivious
disposition grow more sedate and virtuous after they have borne
several children.
After the age of twenty-one women are fully ripe for
child-bearing, but men go on increasing in vigour. When the
spermatic fluid is of a thin consistency it is infertile; when
granular it is fertile and likely to produce male children, but when
thin and unclotted it is apt to produce female offspring. And it is
about this time of life that in men the beard makes its appearance.
2
The onset of the catamenia in women takes place towards the end of
the month; and on this account the wiseacres assert that the moon is
feminine, because the discharge in women and the waning of the moon
happen at one and the same time, and after the wane and the
discharge both one and the other grow whole again.
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